Britain Arrests Radical Cleric Who Faces U.S. Terror Charges

The British police arrested a radical Islamic leader, Abu Hamza al-Masri, early today after the United States requested his extradition on a variety of charges, including trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and aiding Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Announcing an 11-count indictment unsealed in New York today, the United States Attorney General, John Ashcroft, said Mr. al-Masri faces charges of hostage-taking and conspiracy in connection with an attack in Yemen in 1998 on 16 tourists, including two Americans. Four hostages were killed and several others were wounded when the Yemeni Army tried to rescue them.

He is also charged with conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, specifically Al Qaeda. The charges relate to Mr. al-Masri's attempts in late 1999 and early 2000 to set up a camp for "violent jihad" in Bly, Ore., the attorney general said.

In addition, Mr. al-Masri is accused of providing material support for Al Qaeda to further a holy war in Afghanistan, and conspiracy to aid the Taliban.

The maximum sentence for hostage-taking is the death penalty or life imprisonment, Mr. Ashcroft said. If convicted, Mr. al-Masri also faces a sentence of up to 100 years in prison on the additional charges.

In London early today, moving under the cover of darkness, the police closed off streets in a suburban area of west London where Mr. al-Masri, a 47-year-old Egyptian-born cleric, lived with his family.

At the time of his arrest, he was also facing extradition efforts from Yemen, which has accused him of fomenting terrorism in 1998. Additionally, authorities here were trying to strip him of the British nationality he acquired by marriage in the early 1980's, citing what they said was his support for Al Qaeda and for a terrorist cell in Yemen. Mr. al-Masri denies having ties to Al Qaeda.

Soon after his arrest, police officers began searching the home in the Shepherd's Bush district.

Mr. al-Masri, who lost an eye and both hands in what he has described as mine-clearing operations while fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, was formerly the preacher at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London. Both Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, and Zacarias Moussaoui, accused of taking part in planning the Sept. 11 attacks, reportedly attended the mosque before their arrest. The mosque had been depicted by European antiterrorism investigators as a focus of terrorist planning.

Depicted as an object of hatred in British tabloid newspapers, Mr. al-Masri was barred from preaching at the mosque, which was closed down by the authorities last year, and has taken to preaching to his supporters in the streets outside. He has been accused by British authorities of making "extreme and political statements."

Those include praising Osama bin Laden as a hero and describing the crash of the space shuttle Columbia as "punishment from God." Mr. al-Masri has termed the American-led invasion of Iraq as a war against Islam and has described the events of 9/11 as a Jewish conspiracy.

Mr. al-Masri was expected to appear at a high-security court at Belmarsh in southeast London later today. His lawyers said he would fight the extradition request.

Mr. al-Masri moved to Britain in the early 1980's as a student of civil engineering and worked as a nightclub doorman. In the 1990's, however, he reportedly fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. After his return to Britain, Yemeni authorities accused him of plotting to kidnap Westerners in Yemen.

At a hearing last month related to British efforts to remove his citizenship, Mr. al-Masri was accused of providing "advice and support to terrorist groups." He was also said to have encouraged other people to make terrorist attacks in other countries.

Mr. al-Masri is one of several high-profile Muslim clerics in Britain who have been accused of supporting terrorism.

While some clerics, like Abu Qatada — said to be the spiritual counselor of Mohamed Atta, believed to have led the Sept. 11 hijacking team — remain in prison in Britain without charge. Others, like Sheik Omar al Bakri, leader of a movement called Al Muhajiroun, carry on a robust ideological campaign.

In a television interview today after Mr. al-Masri's arrest, Mr. al-Bakri said people like him and his fellow cleric were "guilty by default" because of a Western campaign against Islam.

Even more moderate Islamic figures, moreover, showed some unease at his detention.

"We are totally against his views, as we have shown," said Ahmed Versi, editor of the newspaper The Muslim News. "But the point of principle is an important one. There must be proper evidence against him which would stand in a court of law in this country."

And Anas Altikriti, a former president of the Muslim Association of Britain, declared: "The worrying thing is that these dawn raids and arrests are becoming quite a frequent occurrence in the Muslim community. It sets a flawed and dangerous precedent."

Only last month in Manchester, the police arrested 10 people — mainly Iraqi Kurds — in connection with a supposed terror plot but then released them without bringing terrorism charges.

Under British law, extradition proceedings can take months if not years and may collapse if British courts are not convinced by the evidence offered to them from the country seeking a suspect's extradition.

In one case after the Sept. 11 attacks an Algerian pilot, Lotfi Raissi, was held through months of hearings and finally released because a British court ruled that the United States authorities had not produced evidence to justify his extradition.

Since then, however, British rules have been relaxed somewhat to permit extradition hearings to proceed more swiftly.